This invention relates to a device for use in therapy of the hand and more specifically to a device for exercising a finger after surgery on the finger. The device is particularly useful after surgical reattachment or graft of a severed tendon.
Injuries to hands often result in damage to fingers, particularly on the parts of the finger used to grip, (the inside of the finger). These parts can be torn or cut by contact with sharp items when they are gripped by the hand. Other injuries are caused by impacts and it is not uncommon for corrective surgery to be needed to reattach or graft tendons, restore stiff joints, or for similar reasons. After such surgery, it is essential that the finger be kept mobile to minimize adverse scar adhesions which can result in immobilization of the finger if allowed to heal without movement. It is therefore common practice to provide some kind of splint to support and protect the injured hand and at the same time provide some kind of device which will permit controlled manipulation of the finger by the patient within a desired range of movements.
A common practice is to use a splint to give dorsal protection and to attach a lanyard to the tip of the finger in question so that pulling on the lanyard will bend the finger toward the palm of the hand. Unfortunately as the finger bends, the force causes a tensile loading in the tip of the finger which tends to cause bending only at the root of the finger rather than in the joints of the finger where the movement is required. Although such an approach is better than leaving the finger immobile, it must be used carefully to avoid damage to the repair. Because of the accompanying pain the patient may not use the device, and consequently adverse scar adhesions form which, as mentioned, can have most undesirable results.